A strange ramble

After listening to the heated class discussions over a bagel this past week, I almost feel bad for bringing up something that has proven to bring in much stronger opinions. But that's an almost. As I was reading Ian Bogost's blog post assigned for tomorrow, I couldn't help but notice that he was, in fact, the actual creator of the Guru Meditation app. I decided to read into this further. I thought it was really strange that a man who had designed an app was having an in-depth and slightly disgruntled discussion as to what an app actually is. I began to search around to see how this app had been received by the public. More often than not, it was some old Amiga fan wanting it for nostalgic purposes.

I found one review where Bogost said that he had a student completely zone out on Guru for over 20 minutes. I couldn't help but begin to bring this back to the ideas of deep attention and hyperattention we discussed at the beginning of the year. I know that digital natives are criticized as having no sense of deep attention, but perhaps the Guru app has its merits as a manifestation of the fact that such attention still exists. Or maybe that student was just really tired and prone to zoning out that day.
My favorite quote of Bogost's about the app is:

"The iPhone offers a unique opportunity for a true relaxation game, since it makes such constant demands on our attention—telephone, email, text messages, Twitter, etc. Guru Meditation for iPhone literally makes it impossible to pursue other activities while playing. As such, it offers a convenient secondary commentary on the often overwhelming values of "connection" that today's portable communication devices embrace."

Am I really supposed to believe that it is only through Guru that I will be cut off from all my other apps and digital callings? And why is that such a bad thing? Why is it so bad to be cut off from the noise of the world? I don't even have a lot of noise from the world. I text my boyfriend every now and then, I get a call from my mom, I have a friend call me for lunch. Maybe it's different for all the "grown-ups" in New York walking around looking angry in their suits doing God knows what on their smart phones, but couldn't this whole I-need-to-get-away-from-technology thing just be a reactionary phase? I think that we need to decide: do we love the technology or do we reject it. I don't see any one my age saying "I need to take a vacation from my technology." I don't even see my own mother saying that, she's actually the one (not me or my 16 year old brother) that has the iPhone.

I don't have a problem with the Guru app. I don't think it's God's gift to the iPad user who for some reason would want to forget the machine they spent an inordinate amount of money on. Perhaps I have this utopian vision in my head where books and people and technology all live happily ever after. I can keep my books, I can use technology when I need it. Even if we can't find the happy balance with Guru, perhaps we can find the happy balance with technology?

I realize that this was kind of a rambling post, but these are just some thoughts I've had floating around for a while. I mean, sure, all this new technology is startling, but is it really enough that people are already using it to work against itself? Do we really already need anti-apps? Do we really need sites like wired.com claiming over and over again at the web is dead? The book isn't dead, the web isn't dead, and even though my cell phone is significantly smaller and more awesome than the originals that my parents had, I don't really think it's trying to take over my life. We created the technology, shouldn't we be in control of how we use it? This has me thinking about the orders of the simulacra. Is the idea that our technology controls us (instead of the other way around) a part of the simulacra? I think it is, but any ideas as to what order?

This video is just for amusement purposes: I guess The Edge is way ahead of us in finding his zen balance with technology. Just start at about 6:55 and the part I'm talking about only goes for about 30-45 seconds.